Being Vegan

Being Vegan

“[Veganism is] a philosophy and way of living that seeks to exclude - as far as possible and practical - all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose; and, by extension, promote the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals, and the environment.”

- The Vegan Society

Here, we present our collection of resources to provide information, recipes, and motivation for everyone thinking of becoming or who is already vegan.

Information

There is a wealth of information on being vegan available both online and via local communities and events. Here are a few online resources to start your research into the breadth and depth of vegan activities and thought.

Lots of documentaries have been made focusing on veganism or topics where veganism has a positive impact. We provide a list here.

The Environmental Benefits Of Being Vegan

In 2018, the UN warned the world that we have 12 years to limit climate change or face catastrophe (1). And, in the same year, we were told how, as individuals, we can help: “Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth.” (2)

A plant based diet is better for our Air, Land, and Water. Here’s why:

A plant-based diet creates less greenhouse gas emissions than an animal-based diet.

Farmed animals contribute 14.5 % of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions (5). That is more than the emissions from all the transportation in the world combined. More than every car, every motorbike, every plane, every truck, and every train on the planet! The huge numbers of farmed animals also release methane, which is 86% more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas (7). Farmed animals account for 65% of global nitrous oxide emissions (6). When waste from the billions of farmed animals is broken down by microbes, it releases nitrous oxide gas, which is 300x more potant as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. (8)

Growing plants to feed humans requires less land than raising animals to feed humans.

“Since European settlement, the Australian continent has been extensively modified by animal agriculture, with livestock (mainly cattle, sheep and dairy) grazing native or modified pastures on 56% of the continent (17). About 3.5% of land is used to grow plant foods for humans.” - Vegan Australia (13).

“In the United States alone, 56 million acres of land are used to grow feed for animals, while only 4 million acres are producing plants for humans to eat.” - Peta (12).

These values demonstrate the vast amounts of land needed for farmed animals. Included in these numbers is the land required to grow food to feed the animals. This is hugely inefficient, especially as we get back far fewer calories than we feed to the animals.

Unsurprisingly, the demand for animal products has resulted in increased global deforestation. Deforestation releases more climate-changing gases, increasing the speed and severity of climate change, as well as reducing the number of trees we have to absorb carbon dioxide. So we are adding more harmful gases in to the atmosphere and reducing our ability to absorb and manage them. We loose 18.7 million acres of forests every year, the equivalent of 27 soccer fields every minute (10). After deforestation the damage continues, soil is left exposed and can quickly dry out drastically changing its ability to help grow future plant life.

Producing plant based food requires far less water than raising farmed animals to be fed to humans.

The meat and dairy industry use 1/3 of the Earth’s fresh water (6). That’s: 9,000 litres of water to produce just one pound of beef, 1,000 litres of water to produce 1 litre of milk. Put this in contrast to: 60 litres of water to produce one pound of potatoes and 229 litres to produce one pound of rice (14). Beyond the use of water, the billions of farmed animals around the world produce unimaginable amounts of excrement which continue to leak in to water ways. When in waterways it has devastating effects on aquatic wildlife, it can even lead to dead zones. The meat industry is to blame for the largest ever dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. (15). Despite dead zones, overfishing has been identified as a primary cause of ecosystem collapse in many aquatic systems (16).

“Moving from current diets to a diet that excludes animal products has transformative potential, reducing food’s land use by 3.1 billion hectares (a 76% reduction), including a 19% reduction in arable land; food’s GHG emissions by 6.6 (5.5-7.4) billion metric tons of CO2eq (a 49% reduction); acidification by 50% (45-54%); eutrophication by 49% (37-56%); and scarcity-weighted freshwater withdrawals by 19% (−5 to 32%) for a 2010 reference year.” (3)

Percentages may vary between reports but what remains perfectly consistent is that that an animal based diet creates more greenhouse gases than a plant based diet. If you haven't already made the switch to a plant based diet, now is the best time, it's the "‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth" (2).